1. Field of the invention
The present invention is related to a flashlight carriable on one""s person, and especially to a miniaturized flashlight carriable on one""s person and using an LED lamp bulb as the light source, the main members including an internal lamp holder and switching device can be provided in an end cover for combining with a main barrel to form the flashlight having two sections. By controlling by directly rotation of the end cover, the LED lamp bulb can be turned on or off. Otherwise, the end cover can be separated independently from the main barrel for assembling or dismounting batteries.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In a conventional flashlight, a lamp bulb with a tungsten filament and conventional batteries are used and are convenient for holding; however, such a conventional flashlight has quite a large volume and a predetermined length, thus is inconvenient for carrying.
Following nonstop advancing of science and technique of semiconductors, light emitting diodes (LED) without tungsten filaments have been made to have various colors, and can give high brightness and even super high brightness, they have already been able to substitute for the conventional miniature lamp bulbs, and are widely used in products in various fields. Such LED""s with small volumes can surely be probable to be used in miniaturizing flashlights. And such flashlights using LED""s as light sources can make the length of a flashlight to about 3.5-6 cm and a diameter of about 1.1-2.5 cm.
A conventional lamp bulb has on one end thereof a threaded metallic cap connecting with a lamp holder with an inner thread; while the LED lamp bulb has two terminal electrodes exposed, thereby, a completely different lamp holder is required to connect it in a flashlight.
FIG. 1-3 show a conventional miniature flashlight with an LED lamp bulb as the light source, it is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,349,506. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, such a conventional miniature flashlight has a main barrel 10, the front end thereof is provided with a head assembly 11, while the rear end thereof is provided with a tail cap 12, these members in three sections compose the whole flashlight. The main barrel 10 is connected on the threaded end thereof with a fixing ring 13 to cooperatively position a reflecting condenser 14 and a glass 15. And the LED lamp bulb 16 is located at the center of the reflecting condenser 14. The tail cap 12 is provided on the inner bottom thereof with a spring 17, the main barrel 10 is provided therein with a plurality of batteries 18.
The lamp bulb and the switching device in the flashlight structure stated above are respectively mounted on an upper insulator receptacle 100 and a lower insulator receptacle 120. The main barrel 10 is provided on the front end thereof with a folding-in edge 109, so that the lower insulator receptacle 120 can be received in the interior on the right hand of the folding-in edge 109 as shown in the drawing, while the upper insulator receptacle 100 is located at the left external side of the folding-in edge 109; and that the two insulator receptacles 100 and 120 can be gotten closed to and move apart from each other axially. Referring simultaneously to FIG. 1 and 3, the upper insulator receptacle 100 is provided with two mutually separated through holes 101, 102, and a split hollow pipe formed from two mutually opposite arciform sheets 103, 104. The two terminal electrodes 161, 162 of the LED lamp bulb 16 are extended into the through holes 101, 102, and into the split hollow pipe. While the lower insulator receptacle 120 is provided with two middle slots 121, 122 for insertion of a central conductor 123 and a side conductor 124 respectively. The two insulator receptacles 100 and 120 can allow movement of the arciform sheets 103, 104 to extend into arciform slots 125, 126 to allow the two terminal electrodes 161, 162 to insert to contact the central conductor 123 and the side conductor 124 respectively. The central conductor 123 is provided at one side of the lower insulator receptacle 120 with a bent piece 127 for contact with one end of the battery set 18, and the other end of the battery set 18 presses and contacts the spring 17. The side conductor 124 is provided at the other side of the lower insulator receptacle 120 with another bent piece 128.
The flashlight structure stated above will have the bent piece 128 of the side conductor 124 separated from the folding-in edge 109 of the main barrel 10 when the head assembly 11 is completely locked tightly on the main barrel 10 (as shown in FIG. 1), thus the LED lamp bulb 16 is turned off. While if the head assembly 11 is rotated to screw off a predetermined distance (as shown in FIG. 2), the spring 17 on one side of the tail cap 12 will push to render the bent piece 128 to press the folding-in edge 109 to make a turning on state, and the LED lamp bulb 16 is lightened.
The structure of such a miniature flashlight has been disclosed in many documents such as U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,485,360, No. 5,806,964 and 6,086,219.
However, such a conventional miniature flashlight structure with an LED lamp bulb as the light source has one end thereof fixedly mounted with a head assembly, and has on the rear end thereof a tail cap, it is totally a structure in three sections; these make the flashlight difficult to be further miniaturized. The head assembly must have an internal thread which is slightly larger and connected and locked on an external thread matching therewith on the main barrel. A protrusion portion of the head assembly renders the whole flashlight difficult to make the main barrel and the head assembly integral in their contour. In practical assembling in site, the lower insulator receptacle must be installed into one end of the main barrel, and the upper insulator receptacle is connected at the other end of the main barrel to the lower insulator receptacle, the assembling work is troublesome and inconvenient. The main barrel and the head assembly rotate relatively to each other to control the movement of the upper and the lower insulator receptacles to or apart from each other taking the end where the reflecting condenser locates as a force bearing point, in this mode, operation of controlling is less stable. Before the head assembly is detached or completely mounted, no matter during assembling or maintenance, the LED lamp bulb is in the upright state without covering (such as shown in FIG. 8 of the drawings in U.S. Pat. No. 5,349,506), the expensive LED lamp bulb is extremely subjected to damage by inadvertent collision.
The object of the present invention is to provide a flashlight carriable on one""s person which is comprised lengthwise of a main barrel and an end cover both have their threaded sections adjustable in movement. The end cover has therein a hood for the light emitting diode. The main barrel has in the hollow interior thereof a set of batteries and a lower spring. A male insulation block and a female insulation sleeve are telescopically connected with each other and have therein and therebetween sequentially a metallic electric conductive piece, an electric conductive cap and an upper spring from below upwardly. The male insulation block and the female insulation sleeve telescopically connected with each other can be functioned as a lamp holder for an LED lamp bulb and a switching device. The electric conductive cap can control turning on/off of the LED lamp bulb by press contacting with or separating from the metallic electric conductive piece during rotation control of the end cover. The male insulation block and the female insulation sleeve and the internal elements of the switching device can be integrally provided in the end cover in order to form a flashlight being further miniaturized.
The members in the end cover of the present invention can be assembled sequentially at the same side and in the same direction to thereby render the operation in site faster and more convenient.
The end cover for main elements, the lamp holder and switching device can have an external thread screw connected with an internal thread on the main barrel, so that the whole flashlight can be integral in its contour.
By virtue that the LED lamp bulb is placed in the end cover in a protecting state of being completely covered, it can be assured that the LED lamp bulb will not be damaged accidentally.
Further by virtue that the main controlling members of the flashlight of the present invention can all be hermetically provided in the metallic end cover, the entire structure thereby is firmer and more durable.
The present invention will be apparent in its novelty and features after reading the detailed description of the preferred embodiment thereof in reference to the accompanying drawings.